A Korean (the south version of course, because I am afraid that nothing will reach us from Pyongyang for the coming century) metal band, wow that’s really something exotic. I went through my rapidly expanding cd collection, but I have no CD from that country. So I’m totally uninformed regarding the Korean metal scene (is there any??). If somebody can find me some decent Korean metal bands, then you’re more than welcome to shout it out on the website!

Their biography tells me that Perseverance is the heaviest Korean album to date. Well, I believe them immediately, not because this album is so extremely heavy but like I said I don’t know shit about the Korean scene. The music they play can be categorized quite easily: heavily eighties influenced thrash metal. Especially the Sepultura influences are clearly there, not that I mind it because the old Sepultura CDs are among my favorite thrash albums released.

It’s just too bad that they come nowhere near the class that the Sepultura songs have. They lack the same songwriting skills like their similar sounding Hungarian brothers Ektomorf. Mahatma starts off on the right foot with ‘There Is No Hope Without Suffering’ (I especially like the intro. What can I say I’m a sucker for samples!). This song sets the tone for the rest of the album. Midtempo to fast thrash metal with a mediocre singer, though none of the other songs come close to the opener!

The songwriting isn’t awful, though a bit more variation in regard to the riffs is a must for the next album. I do think that the vocals should be of higher level to be competitive with other bands. Jong-Gap uses too much the same growl and doesn’t vary in pitch or anything like that. If it was a short album (less than 40 minutes) this wouldn’t be such a problem, but because of the length and the open production (something I really like compared to all those overproduced products which do not breath at all!) a good vocalist should be the key to conquer boredom.

Well and to be honest I really got bored after six tracks. I looked at the CD display and I saw that I had to listen to six more tracks, sorry but that’s too much if the songs sound so much alike! I hoped that the last song would be the song that would kick me in the balls or would be memorable, but what I heard really made me laugh. Come on guys are you serious with this song? Dreadful clean vocals and uninspiring melodies…

Don’t get me wrong, this album is not total crap. Maybe I’m a bit harsh in my critique, but there is so much that they could improve. I heard some really nice things and it’s a shame that some elements overshadow the quality that I believe is around. It just have to come out, hopefully on their next release.